BioGeneration Ventures Closes BGV Fund V, at €150M

BioGeneration Ventures

BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), a Naarden, The Netherlands-based early-stage VC in European biopharma, closed BGV V, at €150m.

LPs included US institutional investors and corporate investors including Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Holdings and Bristol Myers Squibb. The Fund V also received an investment from the European Investment Fund, notably as part of the Venture Centre of Excellence initiative supported by the Health Compartment of the Sustainable Development Umbrella Fund, with the financial backing of the European Union under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (“EFSI”) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe.

BGV V will focus on early-stage ventures, company creation and seeking out therapeutic innovations that stem from differentiated science and are supported by convincing experimental data. The fund expects to invest in approximately 12 companies focusing on drug discovery and development.

BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) is a venture capital firm with a focus on early-stage European biotech companies. BGV manages over €400 million of funds, and invests in areas where true scientific innovations, unmet medical needs, and the potential to demonstrate a significant proof of concept all converge.

BGV portfolio successes include Acerta Pharma, which was acquired by AstraZeneca for approximately $7 billion, and whose lead cancer asset has subsequently become the blockbuster medicine, Calquence®. More recently, BGV announced the acquisition of Synaffix by Lonza for €160 million, including a €100 million upfront cash payment.

Companies in the current BGV portfolio include: Azafaros, whose clinical candidate focusing on certain rare lysosomal storage disorders in children recently entered into a phase II study; Dualyx, which raised a €40 million financing to progress potential treatments in immunological diseases; and Complement Therapeutics, which received its initial funding from BGV in 2021 and recently raised €72 million in a Series A round to continue the clinical development of its lead product targeting the most common, and currently untreatable, eye-diseases with a novel gene therapy approach.

BGV is the early-stage focused platform partner of Forbion, a European life sciences venture capital fund with €3 billion in capital under management.

FinSMEs

13/07/2023